Collector Classics: Back in the family

Collector Classics: Back in the family

Christopher Yarrow’s search for his grandfather’s car led to 1930 Packard Phaeton restoration

byAlyn Edwards | December 18, 2013

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Christopher Yarrow with the fully restored 1930 Packard Phaeton purchased new in Victoria by his grandfather Norman who ran Yarrows Shipyard from 1912 to 1947.Alyn Edwards

Christopher Yarrow is a descendent of one of Victoria’s most famous industrialists.

One hundred years ago, his grandfather, Norman Alfred Yarrow, was sent to Victoria by his father, Sir Alfred Yarrow, an English marine engineer who had become a shipbuilding magnate to take over an existing shipyard in Esquimalt. Norman was a marine engineer and, in 1912 with the backing of his father, expanded the shipyard business.

During the World War One, Yarrows Shipyard employed over 4,000 people building and repairing ships.

In 1930, Norman Yarrow saw a new Packard 740 four-door convertible Phaeton at Plimley Motors. The top-line luxury car had a pale yellow body with black fenders, a black leather interior and a special tonneau windshield to protect rear passengers. When he inquired about the fuel economy the massive car would deliver, a condescending salesman replied: “Sir: If you have to ask, you likely can’t afford it.”

Yarrow was offended but went back two days later and shelled out $10,000 for the car.

“He wasn’t showy and didn’t want whitewall tires or a fancy hood ornament,” grandson Christopher Yarrow says drawing from family history. Yarrow traded in his 1928 Packard Phaeton and drove his new car to work every day in the fair weather months. The car was mostly stored in winter at the family home on Foul Bay Road.

Christopher Yarrow never met his grandfather. Norman Yarrow died in London at the swish Claridge’s Hotel in 1955. Christopher was born three years later on the front seat of his grandmother Hope Yarrow’s 1957 Lincoln.

Hope Yarrow in her new 1957 Lincoln Premier hardtop. Her grandson, Christopher Yarrow, was born on the front seat of the car.

His parents were living in Qualicum and were visiting his grandmother at her home called Orchard Gate at Elk Lake at the time. They made it to Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital, but not in time before Christopher was born and the Lincoln became his actual place of birth.

As a youngster, he was fascinated with the photographs of his grandfather’s 1930 Packard four-door convertible.

It had been used largely as a summer car and took the family to their oceanfront summer residence at Yarrow Point in Ardmore. It was used to carry King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during the first royal visit to Victoria in 1939.

He would visit the Classic Car Museum in Victoria every week. One day when he was 14 years old, he took in a photo of the King and Queen riding in the Packard to show his friend, museum owner and Packard expert Murray Gammon.

“He took one look at the photo, went into his office and came back with the name and phone number of the current owner,” Christopher recalls.

In 1937, Norman had traded the big Packard convertible in for a smaller Packard 120.

In 1950, the venerable Packard had ended up for sale at Main Motor Sales on Vancouver’s Main Street. The big open cars of the 1930s were drafty and cold and as such weren’t very desirable. The Packard was acquired by vintage car enthusiast Art Fulakwa in 1956.

Hope Yarrow, Christopher’s grandmother, had given the original trunk to a previous owner of the Packard, David Carere and Christopher Yarrow gave Art Fulakwa the original fitted luggage along with other interesting original photographs of the car that Norman took over the years. Christopher Yarrow connected with Fulakwa and would visit him and the car regularly at his home in Port Coquitlam and then on South Pender Island.

By 1985, Fulakwa was ready to sell the car. Christopher Yarrow was finally able to bring his grandfather’s Packard back into the family. The car was taken to his grandmother’s home in Victoria’s Uplands area for storage.

In 1989, he went north looking for work as a bush pilot and ended in the Northwest Territories and, in 1993, purchased an airline located in Fort Simpson. Wolverine Air was a bush plane business operating seven aircraft flying freight and passengers throughout Canada’s north. In 2010, Christopher Yarrow sold the airline and moved back to Victoria.

“When the car came in the driveway on the back of flatbed truck, grandmother came out and gave me an envelope containing the sterling silver letters N-A-Y for Norman Alfred Yarrow that were ordered by my grandfather from the Packard factory to put on the doors of his car.”

Christopher commissioned Ray Holman at Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island to do a full off-frame restoration. The job took 14 months to complete and Christopher Yarrow got the car back in the condition it was in when his grandfather bought it new in Victoria more than 75 years ago.

His quest for more of his grandfather’s legacy also extended to a search for the 26-foot yacht his grandfather had built at his shipyard in the 1920s. It was named Cynthia in honour of Norman Yarrow’s daughter Cynthia, Christopher’s mother. The search ended on a farm in Duncan where the derelict and rotted boat was stored on land. It was too far gone for restoration but Christopher salvaged the hardware and the steering wheel with his mother’s name inlaid in bronze.

Now his attention has turned to finding the 1957 Lincoln he was born in. All he knows is it was a top-line Premier two-door hardtop in sand beige with a brown and cream leather interior. It was sold privately in the mid-60s to someone in Victoria.

He would love to acquire that piece of family history and bring it back to the condition it was when his grandmother bought it new at Gladwell Motors in Victoria.

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com